Bird News Archive XII June 1 2009 - Dec. 31 (Nov. 30 so far) 2009

Some commonly used abbreviations used are: "in town" - means in Utopia LM - Lost Maples SNA; GSP - Garner St. Pk. SRV - Sabinal River Valley FOS - "First of Season" (usually used for 1st spring or fall migrant to show up locally) SR - Seco Ridge a couple miles west of Utopia in Uvalde County. Ode - Odonata (dragonfly or damselfly) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ For now here, we have June 1 to November 30, 2009, the rest of 2009 to be added later.  We try to keep a few months up on the current news page so one can review recent trends on that page, but fall is long so we break it up to keep current news page shorter. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Nov. 30 ~ A couple Audubon's Orioles were about in the cold drizzle and showers, maybe a quarter inch of rain, not much. More supposed to be on the way, and cold too.  At UP there was a Zone-tailed Hawk roosting in a big Cypress. I haven't seen one locally in two months at least, and they seemed way down this year, presumedly due to their prey being less numerous due to the drought.  I took a quick cruise around town and saw four Lesser Goldfinches at the Schaeffers feeders.  A few will winter at feeders, but for the most part, the wild-food feeding individuals have departed now. A couple add-ons from the prior two days I forgot to mention. First, on the 29th before the front hit in the near 70 deg F warmth, a couple Poor-will were calling right after dark. Then on the 28th, there were 2 immaculate PINK-SIDED Junco here on the seed pile.  That makes at least 3 of them so far this season, a high total already. Nov. 29 ~ A surprise was a Giant Swallowtail in the yard, the first I've seen all month, butterfly species #42 for this Nov.. We just went out quickly in the afternoon as much to see the color in 1050 pass as anything, and it was not disappointing. The Buckley (Spanish) Oaks are stunning as ever, yellows, oranges, reds, maroons, the hills are beautiful.  These oaks are a much more dependable color show than the maples, you can count on these being stellar every Thanksgiving weekend. Not many birds about, perhaps tucking in ahead of the front expected just after dark.  Amongst some Vesper Sparrows on UvCo 354 a mile SE of town, there was a GRASSHOPPER Sparrow. This is the first one I've seen in winter up here, and a bright fresh plumaged beauty it was.  Note Poor-wills calling this date noted above, and, Chorus Frogs are still going good too! Nov. 28 ~ A mid-day check of a few spots about town.... At the library garden there was a Spotted Towhee, Carolina, and Bewick's Wren, probably eating butterflies.  At UP there was a heard only FOS White-throated Sparrow, a FOS first winter Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (finally), and a FOS Song Sparrow below the dam.  Sure nice to see water running over it, even if I can't just run out there in my shoes anymore.  There were a number of Variegated Meadowhawks, a couple Autumn Meandowhawks, 1 Green Darner, and 1 Blue-ringed Dancer about the park for Odes. Note Pink-sided Junco (2) note above for this date. Behind the P.O. there were some sparrows including Field, Vesper, Savannah, and Chipping.  Down at the UvCo 360 crossing area a couple miles south of town there was a little action as usual, with 2 Pyrrhuloxia and a Checkered White (butterfly species #41 here for the month) being highlights. At least 10 Myrtle Warbler were in the area plus the regulars. Nov. 27 ~ Audubon's Oriole back again.  The duskywing butterfly I saw late yesterday was about quickly again today and is not a Funereal, but rather looks Horace's or Juvenal's. Nov. 26 ~ Second a.m. at about 33 deg. F and an Audubon's Oriole has shown up for peanuts and sugar water.  They'll get regular in numbers real quickly now as it gets cold.  There were a hundred Robin and 30 Cedar Waxwing around SR.  Also here were 55 White-winged Dove still, Northern Harrier and Caracara went over, Hutton's Vireo and Ruby-crowned Kinglet about yard. No hummer though so must not have snagged the Selasphorus yesterday. Nov. 25 ~ Amazingly another Selasphorus Hummingbird showed up this afternoon, looked ad. female to me, and a Rufous/Allen's type, which is #12 for the fall this year!  In the front yard I flushed a Savannah Sparrow out of the tall grass!  A lone Pine Siskin was on the sunflower tube.  I heard FOS American Goldfinch at the Library Garden in town.  A Lesser Goldfinch was at UP, as was Great Blue Heron and White-eyed Vireo.  A Reakirt's Blue and 3 Fatal Metalmark were at the library garden. Here in the yard a Dainty Sulphur and an Orange Sulphur each selected fairly matching yellow flowers of Slender-stem Bitterweed and roosted in the flower for the night (ph.).  Pretty smart, besides the camo, you eat until its too cold to move, and first thing in the a.m., you eat as soon as your body can move again. Nov. 24 ~ A Common Raven took aim from above a small circle of 4 soaring Black Vultures. It closed its wings and began a stoop from several hundred feet above the circle of vultures. I think the technical term for its speed as it approached the lunking, slowly climbing vulture cirlce, is "haulin' @$$". Just before it hit the center of their circle at Mach 2 it turned upside down, and tucked wings tight against back, so as to appear as un-vultureflight-like as possible for them.  For maximum effect as it pierced the mathematically exact center of their circle, at Mach 2, upside-down, it loudly croaked several times, which roughly translated meant "bet you can't do this". The raven after some distance upside-down flipped over, and continued on its way as if nothing happened.  The vultures all seemed to be looking at each other saying "what happened?", and then began casting espersions about the ravens parentage. Nov. 23 ~ The immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird continues here at the feeders on SR, day 5 for him. Nov. 22 ~ At UP the White-eyed Vireo continues, and might be a winterer.  There was a 5' Indigo Snake in the woods there. Down at the big Red Turk's Cap patch right before Clayton Grade there were a couple Cloudless Sulphur, a Large Orange Sulphur, and a beautiful female Orange-barred Sulphur, the only one I've seen this fall.  Interestingly, absence seems to be typical for many species after a previous year that was a record-setter invasion for them here.  A bunch of Pipevine Swallowtails were on it too, and Dainty Sulphurs were in the many dozens on some other ground cover.  Up on the grade itself at the cut, in the Eupatorium (Thoroughwort) and Mejorana patch, what wasn't buried by TXDOT, there were mostly Snouts and Dainty Sulphur, and lots of nectaring Diptera (flies).  A couple Painted Lady, Red Admiral, more Pipevines, lots of Sleepy Orange were everywhere.  A new different (to me, here) Cerambycid was on some Sunflowers (photo). The removal of so much of the tree and hedgerow habitat along the road just north of the grade, across from the former Montana Rocasa, where all the trees and hedgerow have been removed, seems to have vacated much wildlife too.  I did not hear Olive Sparrows as usual.  Or anything else.  Up on top of Clayton Grade I consoled myself with some Lindheimer Morning Glory, and a few other flowers, besides a Common Buckeye, the first I've seen this month. Then at the library garden there were four new different things that were the first of the month for me here.  Ceraunus Blue, Orange Skipperling, 2 Mallow Scrub-Hairstreaks, and 2 Western Pygmy-Blue! Also confirmed a couple Tropical Checkered-Skippers amongst the throngs of Common Checkered-Skippers present.  An Orange-crowned Warbler was in the bushes picking butterflies off before I could ID them!  Several Fatal and two Rounded Metalmarks were there. There were about 3 Clouded, 1 Eufala, 5 Sachem and 15 Fiery Skippers. I think it is about 40 butterfly species for the month now, and still no true freeze yet. I saw 33 species today in a couple hours! Nov. 21 ~ Heard Golden-crowned Kinglet, Cedar Waxwing, Robin, Myrtle Warbler, while doing some always sooo fun car work.  Had to test the job and somehow, by some fluke miracle, I ended up at the butterfly garden, can ya believe it? Clearly it didn't freeze here, no burnt leaves or flowers, but good numbers (157 total) of the regular expected 24 most likely species of butterflies at 2:30 p.m. peak heat (ca. 70 deg.F). Interesting was a Blue-headed Vireo there in the live-oak. Butterfly killer.  :) I must have fixed it good because when I was coming home, all by itself it seemed to pull right into the park.  Amazing!?! At UP the water was running (dripping) over the dam in a few spots on the lower spillway, the ponds above and below the dam were full, and there was water running below the dam to the highway (1050).  Audubon's and Myrtle Warblers up in the live-oaks, but nothing different, presumedly it all blew out with the storm.  Water was muddy like the Rio Grande, and Green Darner and Variegated Meadowhawks were the only dragonflies flying.  Lots of the meadowhawks were in tandem and ovipositing, more than a dozen pairs.  Several types of damsels were about, though I couldn't ID them all.  The only one of interest for sure for me was a late date here on a Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita) that I watched catch and then eat a mosquito (ph.).  Lesser Goldfinch still in the sunflower patch.  Heard the Black-and-white Warbler. Heard Sandhill Cranes southbound over the park. Nov. 20 ~ Started a little light showers overnight, maybe an inch by 7 a.m., but a real cold front hit with temps dropping by 9 a.m. and over a couple inches of rain fell in a few hours! It was at least 3.5" by the morning lull, and then there was another 2/3" in the afternoon, for over FOUR INCHES total today!! This was the biggest rain event here I think in two years, at least, since before the drought started in fall 07.  WOW !! For the first time since spring when water quit running over the spillway at the the park, water ran over it!  For the first time all year I heard a major chorus of Chorus Frogs! In late Nov.!?!  And the Ruby-throated Hummingbird stayed quite close to the feeders all day. Nov. 19 ~ At SR there was a single Cedar Waxwing, a lone Robin, 1 each Myrtle and Audubon's Warblers, a Golden-crowned Kinglet, 2 Hermit Thrush, and no hummingbirds for the third day, UNTIL 3 or 4 p.m. when an imm. male Ruby-throated showed up!  I can't believe it, I thought we were done, and they were gone, and another one finds the place!  A Dainty Sulphur in the yard was not one of the 16 species I saw here yesterday. Nov. 18 ~ NO Hummers for the second day in a row here at SR! Was even colder but still didn't freeze here, though was 32 in HDO, 30 in KVL, and 26 in JCT!  An Audubon's Warbler flew over southbound in the a.m., and a male Northern Harrier later.  I saw 16 species of butterflies in the yard this coldest morning since March.  Nov. 17 ~ Was 28 in JCT, 30 in KVL, and probably 35 here on SR. Maybe it neared a freeze down in town, but probably missed. There were NO hummingbirds here today!  There were about 50 White-winged Dove, a flock of 25 Robin, a migrant Monarch, and a few of the regular butterflies.  Ken Cave said he saw 11 Caracara together at the south end of the valley near Clayton Grade mid-day. Nov. 16 ~ A front hit pre-dawn a.m. with 20-30 mph winds, gusting higher, high of 60 maybe and a near-freeze tonight.  There were two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds here in the a.m., but I did not see them in the p.m. and they probably rode the wave on out of Dodge for the winter, finally.  Odd was a duck that flew over SR after dark, sounded like a Gadwall to me. Nov. 15 ~ At SR was my FOS Pine Siskin, two at the sunflower tube. Also at least 2 imm. male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds continue. A couple Monarchs passed.  A few Lesser Goldfinches still about, and the Chippy flock is about 50 with a Junco or two as well. Nov. 14 ~ Here at SR early in the a.m. there was again a single Cedar Waxwing, and a Golden-crowned Kinglet.  Did a Uvalde run and hit Ft. Inge, Cook's Slough has a closed sign hung on it. There were no Scissor-tailed Flycatchers anywhere along the highway there and back for the first time this fall.  At Ft. Inge we heard Green Jay, and saw Winter Wren and Swamp Sparrow, a Neotropic Cormorant, a couple Rock Wren, Verdin, and White-crowned Sparrows. We were not there early so birds had already quited down a lot. The big excitement was the dragonflies there at peak heat of the day. There were about 5 male Coryphaeschna adnexa Blue-faced Darner. These were discovered here a couple months ago, and are only known from a few places in south Texas (besides Florida).  I almost caught one, but it got away, though I did catch a Blue-eyed Darner. There were still lots of Hyacinth Gliders about with their electric purple thorax.  A Histerid beetle was an odd find (photos), which I only know what it was due to Mike Quinn and Mike Overton giving me an ID from the photos.  There were both Cloudless and Large Orange Sulphur at Ft. Inge (one each) too.  There was a Merlin over the supermegamart parking lot for a bit, and finally, there was a Black Witch moth hit, flopping still, on Hwy. 90, on the way back. Blue-eyed Darner - Aeshna multicolor at Ft. Inge, Uvalde, TX, Nov. 14, 2009 Nov. 13 ~ Friday the 13th, so I thought I see if I could get lucky at the park with the adult female Black-and-white Warbler, and sure enough it continues there, and is surely the same bird that wintered last year, when it also arrived in October.  Also there was a White-eyed Vireo, perhaps the first there in a few weeks.  Usually the last migrants are in the 3rd week of Oct.. There was also a Hermit Thrush, a few Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 8+ Myrtle and an Audubon's Warbler, and I thought I heard a Pine Warbler again. Also the regulars like Black Phoebe, Blue Jay, Green Kingfisher, and Golden-fronted Woodpecker were seen.  A Chihuahuan Raven passed over too.  There was a Theona Checkerspot at the library garden, first one I've seen all fall. Also a couple Monarchs nectared (migrants).  Finally, at SR there was another (!) Selasphorus hummingbird, which appeared to be a Rufous, imm. male. This is the 11th probable Rufous here this fall!  A record total, having had 10 one fall in the last 6 years, average is 6 per fall. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird continues, no sign of the Broad-tail. Spotted Towhee and a couple normal here Slate-colored Junco of the odd flavor with partly beige mid-sides (western ones) continue. Nov. 12 ~ Amazingly the Ruby-throated Hummingbird was still about today, but I did not see the Broad-tailed!  4 Monarchs passed over the day. Nov. 11 ~ Got some pix of the Broad-tailed Hummingbird today, but the Ruby-throated wouldn't let me get near it.  It is always amazing how quickly they become ingrates.  Been here fattening up for a week or two for a few hundred mile flight, and can't sit still for one little picture for late date proof? At least the Broad-tailed was cooperative (see below). Not much but the regulars otherwise today.  22 Sandhill Crane. Heard two Barn, 1 Screech- (Mexican), and 1 Great Horned, Owls. And a Poorwill, plus lots of nocturnal passerine flight notes. Immature Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Nov. 11, the fourth one here this fall. November 10 ~ Good for the yard was a FOS positive visual on a PINE WARBLER, so close at the tip of a juniper I was next to, I almost could have used my reading glasses on it. Then besides the imm. male Ruby-throated I confirmed there is another hummingbird here, an imm. BROAD-TAILED !!  The fourth one this fall!  Amercian Pipit also flew over SR, as well as the first flock of Robins, 40 of them going NE. Then I had to run to town so stopped by the library garden where there was a Great Purple Hairstreak, but not much else.  So over to UP, where there was a small passerine flock of resident Titmouse and Chickadee with mostly Myrtle Warblers (5+), a couple Audubon's, a couple Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a FOS BLUE-HEADED VIREO, and spectacularly, a CASSIN'S VIREO.  This is the first one of them I have seen in 6 years here now, my first in the county. It was at times in the same tree as the Blue-headed making for a great comparitive study.  This seemed a first fall bird, since the head was the same olive as the back, and coupled then with fairly regular wing-flicking, generally they appear more like a Hutton's Vireo than a Blue-headed, save the big bold spectacle and whiter underparts.  Heard cranes over the park. November 9 ~ 40 Chipping Sparrows at least now here at SR. One Ruby-throated Hummingbird continues, and maybe I heard something else.  The regular passerines for the days: some Myrtle Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hutton's Vireo, Orange-crowned Warbler all about the SR yard. November 8 ~ At least one Ruby-throated Hummingbird was still on the feeders today, and we got a half inch of still much-needed rain from morning to afternoon. Every night for the last week there have been passerine migrants calling as they pass overhead, much sounding like sparrows such as Savannah, White-crowned, Vesper, but some stuff I'd love to have seen, flight notes I am not familiar with. November 7 ~ Town was packed with the craft fair, and I didn't see any different butterflies at the library garden. At UP there was an American Coot (photos), and the water from earlier rains are filling up the pond still.  You can probably get a boat upriver again now, though since the Black Vultures are using that big cypress to roost in it may be dangerous to go under that tree.  You better hope they flush before you get there or you may be wearing some stinky processed road kill.  A male Northern Harrier flew south over SR late in the p.m.. Two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were still present on the feeders most of the day. Black Vultures roosting in cypress just upriver of the park. November 6 ~ The week of chamber of commerce weather with lows in the 40's and highs in the 70's under beautiful blue skies, and with low humidity has been quite appreciated. At least two Ruby-throats are still hanging out fattening up. Audubon's Warbler passed over SR southbound, calling. Spotted Towhee still sneaking around the brush and seed pile. Oregonish Junco still here. When I heard the alarm notes and saw the now 30 bird strong Chipping Sparrow flock flush, I knew there was an accipter about, either Mr. Sharpy or Ms. Cooper was doing its daily pass.  Then the Sharp-shinned popped up over the trees, up to 25' to clear the power lines and head down the draw. It was then I saw the motion high to the right, I looked up and saw one of the hummingbirds that was here still, an immature male Ruby-throated.  It was climbing, and must have been at 100' up when it bent it over and went into a full speed power dive, directly at aforementioned fiercesome accipter. From out of the sun I don't think the sharpy ever saw it coming. It was like a cartoon as the hummer built up an impressive head of steam, powering all the way to the bottom, and was at nearly mach 1 when it hit the middle of the back of the Sharp-shinned Hawk, as it bent out of the photon torpedo power dive.  I saw the feathers move and become disheveled on the back of the Sharpy.  It parlayed the ricochet into a 60+ mph escape, and was gone as fast as it happened.  The Sharpy had to break stride and hesitate to shake itself out to correct misplaced feathers. I think I heard the hummingbird say "and stay outta here" as it blew the Sharp-shinned Hawks feathers out.  Nice to see the hummers using that sugar we buy for maximum effect. November 5 ~ 2 Ruby-throats at least are still here. Myrtle Warbler moving S. past SR.  Eastern Bluebirds going over near daily too, both north and south, high. Heard a flicker but didn't see it to know what type. November 4 ~ Still 3 Ruby-throats, Hutton's Vireo, Ruby- crowned Kinglet, the Oregonish Junco.  Poorwill and Eastern (Mexican) Screech-Owl still calling regular. November 3 ~ At least 3 Ruby-throats still here, and early there was a SOS - second of season - Golden-crowned Kinglet out front, besides two Ruby-crowned, a Hutton's Vireo, and a mostly Oregon Junco. A stunning shock was at 10:40 a.m. looking up off the back porch and seeing a little "V" of white birds. I ran in the house grabbed bins, got back out and saw them, SNOW GEESE !! Flying south over SR !! And one of them was a ROSS'S GOOSE!  Clearly smaller with a faster wingbeat, there were 6 SNOW, and 1 ROSS'S GOOSE! My first seen for the Sabinal Valley.  Very interesting is that there is a record (1 of only 6 for the whole plateau as of 2000) before of ROSS'S GOOSE nearby.  It was seen flying overhead with Snow Geese (!) at Lost Maples (!) in Nov. (!) 1999! Small world, but I'd hate to have to paint it.  Makes 216 for the yard list, 304 for the Sabinal River Valley. Sometimes the excitement of birding is having the data to know when it is almost lightening striking twice, ten years apart, on the same ridge, someone looked up at the right time in a few seconds window, as a migrant flock of southbound geese passed over, that knew what they were looking at. WEEWOW!! KAPOW ! Data! Dots to connect, that I must say, fit rather neatly and well in this case, as it usually does. November 2 ~ A FOS Cedar Waxwing flew over calling this a.m. at SR.  I heard a FOS Hermit Thrush down the draw too. There are still 4 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds here at the feeders, the first November I've had them in 6 years now. Hasn't frozen yet, so they're fattening up to go I'm sure. Audubon's Warbler passed by southbound, calling, at SR. I'm hard pressed to explain the begging as if just fledged, looking just fledged Lesser Goldfinches (2), attended to by an adult male, acting as to just fledged young, other than to say they are just fledged fledgling Lesser GF's. A guy in SAT just reported feathered nestlings a couple days ago, so there were probably some late nestings. Amazingly late, taking advantage of a late "spring" this fall after the rains finally came and everything bloomed. November 1 ~ At SR early in the a.m. was a FOS American Robin. The numbers of leafy lookie-loos at Lost Maples in fall, can make birding there very difficult, if not nearly impossible. Just the sheer din of footsteps is enough to often keep the animals away from the trails.  But it is a great time to go to Garner St. Pk., as the crowds have left there. So we did, and it was fairly nice, though we just skimmed it quickly for a few hours. We saw 26 species of butterflies, many at the garden at the visitor center (old entrance), including a White Peacock which is a good animal up here in the hills.  Up the Wild Horse Canyon trail there was a latish Red Satyr and a FOS Winter Wren.  Near there at the edge of the Shady Grove area there was a little flock of passerines that had 6 Carolina Chickadee, 4 Black-crested Titmouse, Hutton's Vireo, some Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and surprisingly 3 warblers moving together. A Nashville, a Black-and-white (ad.fem.), and most remarkably, a hybrid HERMIT x TOWNSEND'S Warbler.  These are regular on the west coast, but it is likely the first one of its kind to be reported from the Edwards Plateau.  I hear there are a couple sightings in the state of Texas at Big Bend. We got great close looks, I saw it 6 times in the open over 6 mintues, at close range in full sun.  I'll post a sketch on the oddities page shortly.  There were only a few scattered Myrtle and Orange-crowned Warblers, and I may have heard a Pine, but no big "winter" flock was found. One of our former favorite great places there was butchered in the tree trimming job.  Which I guess they consider it improved, but from a habitat standpoint I can assure you it was destroyed.  Wasn't a single bird where there used to always be many, one of the best spots, completely butchered. Complete and total alteration of a habitat that is *hundreds of years old*, likely for no real good reason, is not a sign of human intelligence. Black Rock Squirrel is perhaps most easily seen locally at Garner St. Pk., around the rental cabins in the live-oak grove near the south end of the park. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ October butterflies totalled 52 species, up over the last two months, but not particularly impressive, and numbers overall remain way down, undoubtedly drought related. The Monarch migration was west of us this year and we only got a few per day instead of the major wave we get some years.  Nice article on Monarchs in the TPWD Parks & Wildlife magazine in the October issue. A prehistoric dinosaur for Halloween. Oct. 31 ~ Wow, 5 Ruby-throated Hummers in the a.m. at SR. Another was at the library garden working the flowers. Three migrant Monarchs were nectaring there, but best was a Dusky-blue Groundstreak, my only one of the month. At UP Kathy found a FOS dull immature Golden-crowned Kinglet high in the crown of one of the big live-oaks.  Also there were 5 Pied-billed Grebes now, and at the Sr. Ctr. Lantana was a Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak.  Back at the seed pile here on SR there were 2 adult White-crowned Sparrow.  I think it was upper 30's deg.F in the a.m.. Orange Bluets photo'd in wheel at UP. Oct. 30 ~ Probably at least 3 Rubys still on the feeders. A juvenile White- crowned Sparrow was at the seed. At the park (UP) was 4 Pied-billed Grebe, and the best bird was a bug, a Carmine Skimmer dragonfly, quite rare up here on the hill.  There were at least 3 FOS Autumn Meadowhawks as well.  Also there were some butterflies on the Maxmillian Sunflower like Vesta Crescent, Checkered White, and Bordered Patch.  Over at the library garden there was a Soldier (Eresimus) which has been nearly absent this year, 50 Queens, 10 American Lady, several Red Admirals, 2 Lyside, and some of the regulars. Oct. 29 ~ The 4 Ruby-throats continue, as does Spotted Towhee skulking at the perimiter brush piles.  Was almost 80 deg.F just before noon when a cold front hit, dropping it 10 deg. in 10 minutes, then blew 20 mph till midnight. Oct. 28 ~ There are still four Ruby-throated Hummingbirds here at the SR feeders.  A couple migrant Monarchs passed by, and a Texan Crescent stopped on some Zexmenia flowers. Oct. 27 ~ A nice chilly 40 deg.F this a.m. felt good. A flock of 4 House Sparrows circled high overhead calling, and moved on.  These country birds sure aren't anything like their city breathen.  I bet their DNA is changing too. Down SR I finally saw an FOS White-crowned Sparrow.  There were at least four Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in the a.m.. An Audubon's Warbler called as it flew over southbound. An Orange Sulphur and a Phaon Crescent were at UP.  There were about 85 Queens and 2 Monarchs at the library garden, and a few other migrant Monarchs passed by, 1 fem. Whirlabout, a couple Bordered Patch.  Odes were dismal at park save bluets out over the water, probably Familiar. Oct. 26 ~ Rain early in the a.m. to morning was probably an inch or so, of still much need wet stuff.  There are still at least 4 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, seeming like most left Sat. and Sun., and now these are stuck until it clears.  The high temp was at 12:01 a.m., and the front hit at 6a.m. or so so it dropped from 65 to below 50 by time ya got out there early, and stayed that way with 20 MPH winds on it, drizzly all day. Oct. 25 ~ There were a couple male Cinnamon Teal at the fish hatchery in Uvalde, one Merlin, one Osprey, one Harrier, one Greater Yellowlegs, a few Common Moorhen, a hundred Coot, the last dozen Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, two FOS Ring-necked Ducks, Yellowthroats and Marsh Wren, 500 Barn Swallow, 2 Plegadis Ibis, Vesper and Savannah Sparrows.  A female Red-tailed Pennant (dragonfly) took a mating pair of bluet damselflies.  There were 3 Thornbush Dashers there too.  At Cook's Slough there were a couple Osprey, some Kiskadee, good numbers of Wigeon and Teal, Yellowthroats and Marsh Wrens, Green Kingfishers, a Black-crowned Night-Heron, Harris's Hawk, and a few migrants, or winterers like Myrtle Warbler, Kinglet and Gnatcatcher. Oops, some Water Pipits were at the hatchery. Along the roads were numbers of Meadowlarks, presumed Western, one looked Eastern, a dozen Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, a half dozen Caracara, numbers of Shrikes and Mockingbirds. Had at least two dozen migrant Monarchs on the day down there. Lots of Phaon Crescents at the hatchery on the Frog-fruit. Later p.m. on the way back there was a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher just south of town, and N. Harrier was below 3 mi. bridge, and one was over town. Oct. 24 ~ Finally saw TWO FOS Spotted Towhee while I was tossing seed around the brush pile.  I bet it was them I heard a few days ago.  Going down SR near Morris' I saw a nearly 5' Indigo Snake cross the road. By some miracle I got it just at the right angle to the sun, and it lit up bright neon indigo iridescent all along the back.  Like a curving moving s curved tube of neon dark indigo.  It was stunning, breath-taking. I've seen a bunch of Indigo Snakes and have seen the bluish tint on the sides once maybe (they usually look black), but this was actual iridescence with it between me and the sun at just the right angle, and it was bright blue!  WOW!! At UP there was finally the first vagrant butterfly from the south of the year, a White-patched Skipper, Chiomara georgina (photos).  The Maxmillian Sunflower is pretty active now.  In the oaks there was a flock of passerine migrants.  With Titmice and Chickadees joining them there was Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 6-7 Myrtle Warbler, 2 Audubon's Warbler, and one other warbler chip that sounded like a Pine to me. Also there was an adult female Black-and-white Warbler, which I bet is the same bird seen in earlier October, and is the same bird that wintered last year, and is attempting to winter again.  Spectacular if so.  Time will tell. 5 more Monarchs. Oct. 23 ~ A chilly 45 for a low this a.m.!  WEEWOW!! The FOS Slate-colored Junco showed up today at SR.  At UP there were 4 Blue-winged Teal and an Audubon's Warbler. Between there and the library garden in an hour and change I saw 22 species of butterflies, with nothing unusual amongst them.  Less than half the diversity of prior years, an effect of the drought.  At SR there were at least 20 Chipping Sparrow, and at dusk to dark Poor-will and Eastern (Mexican - mccallii) Screech-Owl called. Oct. 22 ~ Still a dozen Ruby-throats because rain moved in in the late p.m. yesterday, and overnight we had a much needed over 1.5" by mid-morning here on SR.  an Orange Skipperling was on the Zexmenia out back.  2 Migrant Monarchs passed. The OREGON and PINK-SIDED Juncos continue.  At dusk a flock of 26 Sandhill Cranes were my FOS locally.  The first ones can be counted on to ride the first big post-frontal blow down. Oct. 21 ~ I SAW TWO Juncos today, so I DID hear them yesterday. Even more amazing was that one was a bright dark OREGON, and the other was a beautiful PINK-SIDED!!  Both of these more western types are truly scarce here.  I got to study them for 5 minutes at 10' through the office window in the binocs. Oct. 20 ~ A dozen Ruby-throats continue and Selasphorus sps. probably Rufous #10 of the year came in late in the day. I heard a Flicker call, and I heard a FOS Junco but did not see it to confirm.  I also heard what I thought sure was a Spotted Towhee which would also be an FOS.  The Black Swallowtail is still about. Oct. 19 ~ The avian event of the day was at dusk when a flock of 400 Barn Swallows swirled overhead and then headed down towards the river, presumedly to roost.  It is the largest concentration of migrants I have seen of them locally. Oct. 18 ~ Turned out to be the last day the two Tricolored Herons were seen at UP.  14 bagworm moth cocoons on a cypress at the edge of the river.  One Ceraunus Blue below the dam, and since the first cold snap dragonfly populations are crashing.  Nearly a shocking difference, and other than bluets (Enallagma sps., mostly Familiar -civile), nothing was numerous.  At the library garden there were TWO Great Purple Hairstreaks (Atlides halesus) which are nothing short of stunning every time.  another Monarch, 1 Ocola Skipper, 20 Queens, a Fatal Metalmark, a Hummingbird Hawkmoth type of Sphinx that was not Hemaris diffinis, and one Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  At SR there were a dozen Chipping Sparrows meaning the FOS returning winterers are arriving as there had been 6 since September.  At dusk a FOS Flicker flew into the "perching snag" a hundred yards from the porch, and scope views showed it to be a pure RED-SHAFTED.  A Black Swallowtail was about the yard, and a dozen Ruby-throated Hummingbirds continue at the feeders. Ended up with 5 Monarchs for the day. Oct. 17 ~ My FOS Sharp-shinned Hawk was about today.  Way early sightings posted on the web in August from Uvalde are erroneous. There are more Ruby-throats than feeders here so a problem, since not enough more to break down their territoriality issues, the mean little &#@!*&@#.  Probably more than a dozen including one adult male.  The Selasphorus (Rufous?) is still slugging it out with them too.  Move the 8 feeders all together, spread them all apart, repeat, repeat, I give up.  Two Orange-crowned Warblers bathing at the bath were new arrivals.  Most hummers left by late afternoon. Oct. 16 ~ Several more Ruby-throated Hummingbirds showed up today, with all 8 feeders being guarded by afternoon, and more birds around. The Selasphorus (Rufous or Allen's, probably an immature male) was guarding one feeder all morning into the early afternoon, until enough Ruby-throats showed up that it coulnd't hold them all off. It was a pretty good wave of that came in during the afternoon, with perhaps over a dozen here by late in the day, including a new adult male Ruby-throated Hummingbird showing up at about 6:15 p.m.. Interesting wave, since Oct. 11-12 there were NO Ruby-throats here. A migrant flock of about 35 Turkey and 10 Black vulture showed up to roost on the back (west) knoll of SR just before 7 p.m.. There was a FOS winter form Question Mark butterfly about the yard with more orange instead of black hindwings.  A Barn Owl passed over SR southbound at 10 p.m.. Oct. 15 ~ In the a.m. there was the Selasphorus hummingbird, plus two imm. male Ruby-throats, and two more Ruby-throats showed up in the afternoon, apparently riding the front wave down.  It was a toasty 92 or so in the afternoon with the front hitting about 5:30 p.m. or so.  A couple cooler days allegedly ahead. More Vultures streaming over southbound, but nothing else. Oct. 14 ~ It seems two imm. male Ruby-throats are here now, and one adult female or imm. male Selasphorus, probably a Rufous. Two warblers were in the live-oak out the kitchen window in back this a.m., an Orange-crowned and a Black-throated Green. Some more Black and Turkey Vultures are streaming over southbound. The imm. male Indigo Bunting continues.  The pair of Scott's Orioles were in once briefly late in the day.  They'll be gone any day now, and the Hooded are gone already.  A Julia's Skipper was on some Zexmenia (flowers) as was a Funereal Duskywing. Oct. 13 ~ A new immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird showed up, after a couple days without any present.  But I don't see the Broad-tailed which was present seemingly too late yesterday to have left, and may mean it was predated.  One adult Swainson's Hawk went over in a kettle of Turkey and Black Vultures. The imm. male Indigo Bunting continues.  A spectacular beetle, Plinthocoelium suaveolens, a large metallic green Long-horned Beetle (Cerambycid) flew right by me down the road here on SR. There is a picture of one on the critters INSECT photo page. Oct. 12 ~ A bright very green backed eastern Warbling Vireo was in the live oak out back today giving great views for 5 minutes. The Broad-tailed Hummingbird continues, as the only hummer here. Ruby-crowned Kinglet and House Wren were about.  The Cooper's Hawk flushed the dove flock for a good count, 75 White-wings remain here still.  Pair of Scott's Orioles continues, no male Hooded for almost a week now. Oct. 11 ~ A Uvalde run so checked Ft. Inge and Cook's Slough, despite the mist and drizzle there were some neat birds about. At Ft. Inge where we looked most, we saw some migrants including a late Mississippi Kite that Kathy spotted, 10 Indigo Bunting, 2 Baltimore Oriole, 5 Great Kiskadee, a few Couch's Kingbirds and some Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, a Solitary Sandpiper, lots of Lincoln's Sparrows, some Common Yellowthroats, a few House Wrens including one good singer still going at it, a hundred plus Northern Rough-winged Swalows, a couple dozen Barns and some Caves. Also one Audubon's Warbler, a couple Nashville, and an Orange-crowned Warbler.  A warbler with a zeet flight note flew by with bold wingbars and tail spots, that looked most like a Blackpoll, but it got away.  Most interesting were two Chaetura swifts, that were very stubby-winged, never stopped flapping, or called, with distincly contrasting very pale rumps.  They looked to me to be Vaux's Swifts, not Chimney. Over at Cook's Slough we had a flock of 23 FRANKLIN'S GULL circle but they could apparently tell it wasn't really bathing or drinking water as they only dropped down so far, and then climbed back up, circled over towards the hatchery, returned, and then moved off southward without coming down.  It is my first fall sighting of the species here, where it is normally only a spring migrant.  There were good numbers of Scissor-tails (35) and Vermilion Flycatcher (4), and a couple Couch's Kingbird gorging mostly on some fat caterpillars in a field there.  An Empi whit seemed too soft for Least, but I didn't get to see it.  A couple Swainson's Hawks passed over with some southbound Turkey Vultures.  Ducks included a pair of Pintail, a Gadwall, a dozen Wigeon, 2 dozen Blue-winged Teal, and a couple dozen Coots were back as well.  Good numbers of Cave Swallows continue and there were at least 4 Bank Swallows still present at the slough.  A Great Pondhawk was a good dragonfly (ph.), only the second I've seen of this hard-to-find species in the county. Along the way there were dozens of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, good numbers of Shrikes, and some Meadowlarks starting to show up. Over 100 Barn Swallows were a mile south of the 3 mile bridge south of Utopia coursing the fields there.  On SR, 32 Eurasian Collared-Dove in a single flock on the wire on the way out in the a.m. was not interesting except in a "wonder how they taste" way. Glad they're not at my place, where of course they can't sit around like that, and know it.  Clearly they are increasing here, and I wonder what they will displace?.  An imm. male Indigo Bunting was at the seed here at SR. Oct. 10 ~ A FOS Audubon's Warbler flew south over SR early in the a.m..  A FOS Vesper Sparrow was down SR a bit.  There were 6+ Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in the morning, and the Selasphorus, which is a Broad-tailed, my third this fall.  All the Ruby-throats left over the first half of the day or so, and only the Broad-tailed was left in the afternoon.  After dark, at about 10 p.m. I heard a passerine migrant call a flight note as it passed over that sounded like a Green-tailed Towhee to me. Major Snout (butterfly) movement with peak of 1000/hr. going East over SR. Oct. 9 ~ Perhaps only 6-8 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds left, but a new immature female (?) Selasphorus showed up that I didn't ID. A lone Barn Swallow passed southbound.  A frontal passage early pre-dawn brought about 3/4" of rain, and cool temps. Probably birds too but I couldn't leave the desk.  I heard an Indigo Bunting outside, besides Kinglet, Gnatcatcher, and Orange- crowned Warbler.  It's that time when the insect eating migrants are about gone, and it's more the wintering birds arriving now, the 2nd half of fall migration. Oct. 8 ~ At UP a warbler or two got away, and I saw one Nashville Warbler, Belted Kingfisher, 2 Tricolored Heron, Great Egret, the 7 Blue-winged Teal, and now 3 Pied-billed Grebe there. Hutton's Vireo around the yard, the pair of Scott's and male Hooded Oriole still here.  Today was the first time this year I've seen Snout butterflies passing at 100 per hour or more. Still just 6 Chipping Sparrows present which appear to be the breeding pair and their young of the year. This is one of the immature Tricolored Herons that spent most of the fall here at the park. Oct. 7 ~ Amazing was a CATBIRD out back this morning with the frontal passage.  Very rare here in fall.  There were a couple Gnatcatchers and Kinglets that passed through too.  Male and female Scott's Orioles, and a male Hooded continue at the sugar water. Lyside Sulphur butterflies are passing southbound in moderate numbers. Oct. 6 ~ At UP were the 2 continuing Tricolored Herons, 7 Blue-winged Teal, and an adult female Black-and-white Warbler.  That is interesting in that it could well be the female that wintered last year returning, and is not necessarily a migrant.  Time will tell.  There were dozens of Green Darner dragonflies at UP, many ovipositing pairs and singles. Oct. 5 ~ 4 Barn Swallows passed over southbound, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers continue to pass too.  Finally no adult male Ruby-throat today, probably not again now until late March. (the above proven wrong about 10 days later when a male showed up Oct. 16) A much advertised major rain event for the weekend failed to materialize, and we had fog/mist, and a trace each day for the last 3, so plants got a little.  There is a great early October bloom going on, with even a very few Plateau Agalinis, and good Thyrallis showing. Oct. 4 ~ About a dozen Ruby-throated Hummingbirds still here, and one adult male still.  Seems some left in the day.  A few more Stenaspis Cerambycids were about, and a Hutton's Vireo at SR. House Wrens scattered about, and at Utopia on the River there were a couple Warbler sps., 1 Orange-crowned Warbler, and 2 imm. male Vermilion Flycatcher.  At UP there were just the regular birds. A couple Red-tailed Pennant dragonflies continue and one Twelve-spotted Skimmer was there too.  When we got home on SR another 12-spot was guarding the 4' kiddie pool pond!  A Neon Skimmer female was ovipositing in it earlier in the day. October 3 ~ At UP there were 3 Ringed Kingfisher, my local high count. Also the two Tricolored Heron continue as does the Great Egret, and there were 4 Blue-winged Teal.  On the frontal passage there were four new species with it that were FOS - first of season.  There were two FOS's below the dam: 4 Common Yellowthroat and 2-3 Lincloln's Sparrow.  Then first at SR, and then everywhere I looked there were FOS House Wrens, I saw 6 in an hour or so.  Finally, heard the FOS Ruby-crowned Kinglets.  This fairly well certifies fall is here. At UP there was an adult male Green Kingfisher with a juvenile that looked freshly fledged, all buffy below, like when they just come out. A damselfly that Kathy spotted I got a couple pix of before it dis- appeared was later ID'd by Tony Gallucci as Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita).  We don't see many here. Around the north end of town was the annual fall buildup flock of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, I counted 50 birds at least.  They'll soon be gone until late March next year.  A zeet note got away at UP. An imm. male Indigo Bunting was at SR and the one adult male Ruby-throated Hummingbird continued in the a.m. at least, with about a dozen or so immature males still present.  Male and female Scott's Oriole still hitting the feeder, and ad. male and female Hooded, but I'm not seeing the young of the year anymore, for perhaps all week.  White- winged Dove flock still about 50, and 6 Inca in yard today.  There were 2 mating pairs, and a few singles of the beautiful Cerambycid (Long-horned Beetle) Stenaspis verticalis insignis but my floppy malfunctioned so I didn't get any new pix of them. Sept. 30 ~ Still about a dozen immature male Ruby-throats, and an adult male showed up for a bit too.  The Rufous was not seen after last Sunday.  Fortunately I had to run to town so got to stop by the park briefly.  The two Tricolored Herons were still there, and the Great Egret, 21 Blue-winged Teal, 2 Indigo Bunting immatures, but best of all was TWO Ringed Kingfishers interacting. First time I've seen two together there at once.  At SR there are still a few Scott's and Hooded Orioles, a male of each came in together and traded places on their favorite feeder.  Seems odd how they travel together, but they sure do.  An un-ID'd skipper of some sort got away at the Library Garden, I don't know what it was but good and different. Sept. 29 ~ A few passerine migrants were about the yard including a male Wilson's Warbler, immature Indigo Bunting, and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  One Hutton's Vireo was around too. Sept. 27 ~ The Rufous Hummer was still present, with about a dozen Ruby-throats, but the ad. male Ruby-throat was not seen. Sept. 26 ~ Uvalde had a Zone-tailed Hawk over Hwy. 90 near downtown. At Cook's Slough there were few migrants as the day after frontal passage, everything leaves on the tailwinds. 1 Indigo Bunting, 1 Dickcissel, 1 Yellow Warbler was about it for passerine migrants. A couple Common Yellowthroats and 3 FOS Lincoln's Sparrows were new. A Pied-billed Grebe with traces of juvenile plumage on the head was present; they generally are not here in the summer so odd. There were a couple Tropical Least Skippers there, and a couple Mosaic Darners that appeared to be Blue-eyed Darner but I didn't net them or see what I need to for making a positive ID.  A few have been seen around lately, so I base the presumptive ID on what experts have said about some that others have seen and photographed. In any case after 6 years here this is the first time we've had them show up at the slough, or in the county, clearly an invasion. There were also 2 White Peacock butterflies at the slough. A few Monarchs were about nectaring, some presumedly migrants. Kathy heard a Great Horned Owl early in the a.m. at SR while still dark. The hatchery has new hours so pay attention to the gate.  We got locked in despite being there during open hours, and had to go find someone to get out.  There was another Tropical Least Skipper there too, so perhaps we have a bit of an invasion going on for them.  Interesting was watching a Least Grebe eat a Green Darner!  There were 7 Common Moorhen, a few Coots, 2 Gadwall, a Shoveller, 1 FOS American Wigeon, amongst a couple dozen Blue-winged Teal, a Cassin's Sparrow, a FOS Savannah Sparrow, and one Least Sandpiper.  Too much water in all the ponds as has been the case for most of the last year plus for shorebirds. Good numbers of Shrikes, lots of Mockingbirds, and some Scissor-tails still, were along the roads down in the flatland brush country. Sept. 25 ~ About 50 White-winged Doves remain present hitting the seed daily. At about 11 a.m. when the low cloud deck broke a great (for here) movement of migrant raptors passed over, southbound, after being held down by the weather for a few days. There were: 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Mississippi Kite, 3 Cooper's Hawks, 4 Red-shouldered Hawk, 1 Eastern Red-tailed Hawk, 2 Broad-winged Hawk, (adults), and 2 Swainson's Hawk, one was a dark (chocolate) morph, and a few Kestrel.  Several small groups of Black and Turkey Vultures also appeared to be migrants moving south.  At UP there were 12 Blue-winged Teal, 1 Tricolored Heron, a Great Blue Heron, 1 Osprey, a Nashville Warbler, and all together feasting on ripe Virginia Creeper berries were a Summer Tanager, a female Bullock's Oriole, 1 Indigo Bunting, and a Couch's Kingbird that took 3 or 4 berries.  Also today at SR there was a FOS Say's Phoebe.  There were definite migrant Monarchs passing over, not many, maybe 8, but high fast flyin' migrants. Sept. 24 ~ An FOS Orange-crowned Warbler was about the yard. Sparrows were Clay-colored, Field, Lark, Chipping, and Rufous-crowned. At UP there was an Eastern Wood-Pewee, a Least Flycatcher, a Wilson's Warbler, 19 Blue-winged and 2 Green-winged Teal, one continuing Tricolored Heron.  At dusk there were FIVE Kestrels together at once (photo) on a branch or two of the Buckley Oak pre-roost gathering site they use sometimes, 2 male, 3 female. One Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was in town. Sept. 23 ~ Another .2 of rain this a.m. with a high in the mid-60's. I remember in 2005 late September record breaking 105-107 deg.F.! 2 dozen Ruby-throats and the imm. male Rufous continue. A male Wilson's Warbler was out the office window, a Clay-colored Sparrow was on the seed.  There were 3-4 each of Scott's and Hooded Orioles, and 1 male Bullock's Oriole. Sept. 22 ~ First day of Fall finally !!  it blew in with a cold front, and we had 1.5"+ of rain with a high of about 70 deg. F.! I estimated two dozen Ruby-throated and probably the same Selasphorus, which looked like an imm. male.  What seems likely the regular Kestrel male was back on the wire and his normal late afternoon tele pole perch, and the Buckley Oak it uses too.  At 11 p.m. a large group of Upland Sandpipers passed over, at least 10 called as they flew southbound. Sept. 21 ~ Maybe a dozen plus or two Ruby-throats, one adult male, no Rufous, maybe I missed it.  I thought it an immature male. At UP there was a female Wilson's Warbler and an imm. male Indigo Bunting, but that was about it.  Continuing were, the Belted Kingfisher, two Tricolored Herons, and Great Egret. A widely advertised cold front is supposed to hit tomorrow, with hoped-for rain and cooler temps on the first day of fall. Sept. 20 ~ In the yard was juv. Orchard Oriole, White-eyed Vireo, Nashville Warbler, and the Selasphorus looks like a Rufous. At UP there were 2 Tricolored Heron, so both still around, a Belted Kingfisher, a lateish Yellow-throated Vireo, but not much. At Utopia on the River a couple Yellow Warbler was it, and at the 360 crossing there was Orange-striped Threadtail (Protoneura cara) and a pair of Twelve-spotted Skimmer. Multiple male and female 12-spots were below the dam at UP too. At Co.Line crossing there were a few Yellow Warblers, one Yellow-throated Warbler, a Green Kingfisher.  Cypress Hollow had a Least Flycatcher and a little more water in it. Barely 20 Ruby-throats left.  Blue-gray Gnatcat in the yard. Saw a 4' Indigo Snake at 360 x-ing that dove into river. Looks like some Evergreen Sumac is blooming already, as is the Poverty Weed (Baccharis).  Lots of late flowers have popped out after the rains, besides the carpets of fall rain lillies.  Blackfoot Daisy, Angel's Trumpet, Zexmenia, Navajo Tea, Parralena, Rock Flax, Lindheimer's Senna, Sida, Buffalo Burr, Prarie Fleabane, and others are making a last showing.  The Snow-on-the- mountain seems to be blooming well, though Frostweed seems quite reduced. Not too late for some rain to influence a better bloom from them. Sept. 19 ~ Audubon's Oriole sang out front, then a male Baltimore and a male Bullock's Oriole showed up, besides the regular Hooded and Scott's made for a good oriole show in the yard for the a.m.. At UP there was the Great Egret and Tricolored Heron, a Belted Kingfisher, Wilson's Warbler, one probable Alder Flycatcher. At the Snow-on-the-Mountian patch below 1050 in the river channel there were a number of Monarchs nectaring, 8 maybe, a female Twelve- spotted Skimmer, a Beezlebub Bee Eater (giant Asilid) robberfly, of which we saw another hunting bees on some blooming Kidneywood. Some Painted Lady migrants were seen also, a couple Southern Broken-Dash, Giant Swallowtail, a few Queen, Gulf Frit, and one Ocola Skipper.  Also one of those 2" black and red hornets, and a 2"+ all metallic blue Pompelid or Pepsid.  An Osprey was at UP, my local FOS.  Maybe only 2 dozen Ruby-throats left. Somewhere we had a Common Streaky Skipper, I think below the dam. There were at least a dozen Chimney Swift over town still. Sept. 18 ~ Caracara for 4th evening in a row out front.  Less than 50 Ruby-throated Hummingbird left, perhaps only 30 or so. The Selasphorus continues. Sept. 17 ~ The Clay-colored Sparrow continues on the seed outside. A male Baltimore Oriole was nice again.  Surely less than 100 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds left, about 5-10 adult male, the rest immature male, and 1 Black-chinned immature.  Late in the p.m. a Rufous/Allen's type Selasphorus showed up.  Lucky Bob Rasa in Uvalde was out with a visitor at Cook's Slough that spotted a Painted Redstart, which Bob got a picture of. Sept. 16 ~ The Indigo continues, and a Yellow Warbler passed through the yard.  A major sign of fall is the FOS Clay-colored Sparrow, which was in the SR yard today.  Another FOS of the day was at 11 p.m., a Barn Owl.  Amazing was a chorusing of the over 2 dozen Lesser Goldfinches here on the sunflower tubes, at least a dozen males all going off full blast all at once, with all their mimicry thrown in, it was astounding. One does a great Great Crested Flycatcher and Yellow-throated Vireo very well.  Another does Vermilion Flycatcher flight song perfectly.  Down at UP in the late p.m. there was a Tricolored Heron still, a Green Kingfisher, a Mourning Warbler, and the best bird, was a BLACK WITCH moth. Sept. 15 ~ Still the Indigo bunting imm. male, but no Broad-tail Hummer. So the Broad-tail spent 9 days here fattening up for the next leg. The Mini Red Satyr was still about too. A Caracara flew by in the late p.m., and Kathy had a high-flying Monarch making tracks.  Hummers are leaving in droves, the annual "blowout" is in progress. Sept. 14 ~ The Broad-tailed Hummingbird continued in the a.m. at SR, but was not seen in the p.m..  The Indigo Bunting continued, as did the local Cooper's Hawk, another one of which was a migrant was very high up southbound, with a Swainson's Hawk.  A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher passed through, and there are probably 400 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, with a couple imm. Black-chinned still present. A pint-sized miniature Red Satyr was about the yard, half normal size. Sept 13 ~ Went to Uvalde but it was pretty muddy and wet from the rains, so we didn't walk around much.  Saw a Wood Stork leaving Cooks' Slough & at the hatchery watched a Long-billed Curlew fly off.  Osprey, 7 Moorhen, 4 Least Grebe oddly surface skimming feeding, and 5 Shoveller were also there.  An Eastern Kingbird was near Sabinal, and a Harris's Hawk north of it a ways. Via a post at Texbirds, we found out of an unknowingly photographed Tropical Parula (warbler) at Cook's Slough. Sept. 12 ~ I finally got a spread tail shot of the immature male Broad-tailed Hummingbird that continues at our feeders on SR. Note the limited rufous in the bases of outer rectrices (tail feathers), and narrowly white-tipped 3rd where imm. female is broadly tipped white on that feather. At UP there was a different flock of teal than yesterday's 35 Blue-winged.  An eclipse male CINNAMON TEAL stood out (ph.), and Kathy picked out a Green-winged, which led me to another, plus 20 Blue-winged so clearly a different flock from yesterday. Then she also picked out a Solitary Sandpiper.  There was Great Egret continuing, and one Least Flycatcher across the dam.   At the Sabinal Canyon Museum there was an Ocola Skipper, the first I've seen this year, and a Yellow Warbler in town. A couple Upland Sandpipers flew over southbound at 11 p.m.. Sept. 11 ~ At UP there was a continuing Great Egret I keep forgetting to mention, and one Tricolored Heron.  There were 35 Blue-winged Teal, a Belted Kingfisher, and Judy Schaeffer reported seeing the RINGED Kingfisher there, and 2 Rufous Hummingbirds at her feeders.  A warbler got away from me in the woods I think was a Wilson's.  No change in water levels from the rain though.  Barking Frogs were calling after dark again.  An imm. Indigo Bunting was about the hovel on SR.  We got about 5/8" more of rain.  Keep it coming. An IMPERIAL MOTH was at UP, it lost a piece of wing to a White-eyed Vireo, but made it away OK. Sept. 10 ~ It rained off and on lightly overnight, and in the a.m. we got a good downpour, all totalled aver 2", maybe 2.5" of more than badly needed precipitation finally.  I did see one adult male Black-chinned Hummingbird amongst the over 200 Ruby-throated at the feeders.  A few juv. Black-chins are still here though.  The pair of Inca Doves have two fresh fledglings with them the last couple days.  A Yellow Warbler went through, and a kettle of 60 Black and 30 Turkey Vultures passed over in the late afternoon after the rain. I finally got photos of the imm. male Broad-tailed Hummingbird. A Blue Grosbeak was sneaking around the brush piles for seed. Sept. 9 ~ We got about a quarter inch of rain over night and in the morning.  Send more!  The immature male Broad-tailed Hummingbird continues at the feeders.  There was an Olive-sided Flycatcher out front, and another down SR. At UP there were 15 Blue-winged Teal and 1 Tricolored Heron. A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher passed through the yard and the Hutton's Vireo was still about as well.  The rain was enough to get the Barking Frogs calling tonight!  It's only the second time this year I have heard them. Sept. 8 ~ The Selasphorus hummingbird here is a BROAD-TAILED, immature male.  White-eyed and Hutton's Vireo were about. I estimate 250 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at the feeders, and a couple immature Black-chinned are left, the adult males are all but gone now. Sept. 7 ~ We took a mid-day hike up Can Creek at Lost Maples. Best was a Twelve-spotted Skimmer we saw at the pond.  There is no Bandera Co. record officially because I haven't been able to photograph any of the two dozen I have seen in that county. There were many migrant Summer Tanagers and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. Some of the Summer Tanager males were even singing, but local birds have been gone some time.  A couple Spicebush Swallowtail were seen, and there are some flowers along the trail at least. There were two Tricolored Heron, a Least Flycatcher, and some migrant Summer Tanagers at UP in the morning. Sept. 6 ~ White-eyed Vireo and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher passed through yard.  One Tricolored Heron was at UP.  Late in the afternoon I saw a suspicious looking Selasphorus hummingbird. Not that it was sinister or crafty appearing, but that it did not strike me as a Rufous or Allen's, however I only saw it briefly. Sept. 5 ~ At UP there was an immature Mourning Warbler, Belted Kingfisher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Spotted Sandpiper, and the two Tricolored Heron continue.  At Utopia on the River there were migrant Summer Tanagers, 2 migrant Great Crested Flycatcher, and a YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER, very rare here in fall. There were about 6 Yellow Warblers at the various stops. Baltimore Oriole and Hutton's Vireo continued in the SR yard. A flock of swallows on the wires by the rodeo grounds were 15+ Cave and 5 Barn.  20 Starling were there too. Sept. 4 ~ More of the same migrants passing through the SR yard: Yellow Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and White-eyed Vireo. Sept. 3 ~ The Baltimore Orioles continue at the feeders, male, female, and immature.  I heard a Painted Bunting outside, and there was a White-eyed Vireo and the imm. Cooper's Hawk around. Sept. 2 ~ The same two Mourning Warblers continue at UP in the woods. 1 Yellow Warbler, 1 Tricolored Heron.  At SR the Baltimore Orioles continue, as do at least 6 Hooded, 8 Scott's, and a couple Audubon's.  passing through were Yellow Warbler, Dickcissel, White-eyed Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Here's the pretty bird of the week..... adult male Baltimore Oriole Sept. 1 ~ Audubon's Oriole sang, besides the Hooded and Scott's, plus the Baltimore are still around and I got some poor pix of that drop dead gorgeous male.  Migrants passing through the SR yard were Dickcissel, Yellow Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, White-eyed Vireo, and a rarely still singing Yellow-throated Vireo. Aug. 31 ~ This morning there was a beautiful male Baltimore Oriole, besides some females.  What a stunning bird!  This is the best time of year to see one here.  Dickcissel flew over early, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, a Yellow Warbler, migrants again. Had to run to town so a quick check of the park was had. An adult Little Blue Heron was new, Dickcissel there too, and in the woods there was a Yellow-breasted Chat, and two Mourning Warbler, adult female, and an immature.  Two Monarchs were nectaring on some frostweed.  Odd, multiples here now.  In the afternoon at SR I saw a male Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly, heading east into the wind. I also saw a Monarch powering WEST on the easterlies, at full speed ahead, at nearly 40' altitude (a.g.l.) that must certainly have been a migrant. No local emergence behaves like that.  I just saw a note on a butterfly listserv of an early wave in OK about 2 weeks ago, and some moving in San Angelo recently!  I think it will be near-record early dates for migrants.  but I don't think it's like birds where there are a hundred (or more) years of constant solid records of migrant dates for so many places.  That is why it is important for us to get them now.  Well you have a couple hours to GET READY FOR SEPTEMBER !! Aug. 30 ~ The cooler mornings continue much to everyone's delight I'm sure.  Here we had an adult female and imm. female Baltimore Oriole on the hummer feeders, and a new Selasphorus Hummingbird (Rufous/Allen's) is about as well.  A surprise was a Yellow-breasted Chat down on the ground appearing to pick some seed up.  Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are getting thick. Went to the park since there were migrants at the hovel. The 15 Blue-winged Teal continue so there must be food in the water.  Besides Belted and Green there was one adult male RINGED Kingfisher.  A Solitary Sandpiper was there too. Great was a Louisiana Waterthrush, my first good visual on one at the park.  Having completed presumedly pre-basic molt they are much more peachy buff underneath by factors, now, than in the spring and summer when they are nesting, and worn their dullest.  A couple Yellow and one MOURNING Warbler was there too.  One Willow Flycatcher was seen and heard calling. Below the dam besides an Eastern Amberwing (dragonfly) there were 3 male Twelve-spotted Skimmer, one I got photos of. First of them I've seen around in a couple years at least. There were also 2 Tropical Least Skipper below the dam, the first ones I've positively seen locally, or in the county. Also interesting at the park was a just fledged still begging and being fed Bronzed Cowbird, proving a very late nesting of the victim, Summer Tanager.  It had no Tanager young to feed. Down at Utopia on the River there were 5 Orchard Orioles, a Least Flycatcher, a couple Yellow Warblers and a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH.  The frostweed there is toast and doesn't look like it will bloom unless we get lots of rain quickly. I mentioned a few days ago about going out in the early a.m., and listening for migrants passing overhead.  I should also mention going out at dusk and listening.nbsp; Right at twilight, be out before the stars appear and listen.  Tonight I heard 5 Upland Sanpipers in a few minutes and then I really hit paydirt when a MARBLED GODWIT called as it passed over southbound! Where did it spend the day?  Of course it's the first one I've detected in Uvalde County, but significant to me, for it was the *300th* species I have found in the Sabinal Valley.   That is, our corner of the world from Lost Maples to Clayton Grade, what a mile wide on average and 20 miles long without a lake? An amazingly small obscure area to have produced 300 species. Finally, finally, there was a Monarch nectaring on frostweed at the park.  There was also one there a couple days ago. These looked fairly mint fresh unblemished like locals, not migrants. But the local emergences certainly don't have any food plant available for egg-laying. Aug. 29 ~ We met Ken Cave in Uvalde and walked around Cook's Slough where we saw a few neat things.  Best was a dragonfly I found, a Spot-tailed Dasher.  We got pictures and it may be a new county record.  In the bird department we saw the expected regulars and got great looks at Groove-billed Ani, and there was a juvenile Stilt Sandpiper, a couple Tricolored Herons, but no sign of the Wood Storks or Roseate Spoonbills there were there a couple weeks ago.  Lots of migrant Yellow Warbler and 5 Orchard Orioles too.  Really neat was watching an imm. Eastern Kingbird splash bathe. A couple Wood Ducks were there too. Then at the hatchery we saw a couple white imm. Little Blue Heron, 5 Least Grebes, a juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper, 2 Juv. and 1 ad. Least Sandpiper, 3 Baird's Sandpipers, but the continuing imm. Peregrine Falcon harrassing everything is probably keeping lots of stuff away.  We watched it chase and rake a Snowy Egret that dove into Mesquites and Hackberries to get away!  At various places along the way I saw a total of 6 adult male Bullock's Orioles, and a couple Loggerhead Shrikes were back on their winter territories.  Common Ground-Doves were everywhere, and as we got to Uvalde at least 500 White-winged Doves were flying east. Oops almost forgot, an imm. Northern Harrier was at the hatchery. A few green buntings (imm. or female Painted) were at both sites as were Bell's Vireos that were still singing like it was spring. Aug. 28 ~ Well we finally got lucky and got hit by a rain cell in the afternoon.  It seemed about 3/4", maybe an inch in town. Sure was a nice break from the heat for an afternoon!  As always after an overdue rain the Common Poorwills and Eastern Screech-Owl were calling their heads off with excitement at getting a bath. Aug. 27 ~ Astounding was a Golden-cheeked Warbler in the back yard this morning for a couple minutes that Kathy and I got to see. I haven't seen one in over 3 weeks, and they are mostly long gone by now.  From scrutiny in the binocs it looked like a hatch-year male to me.  It is a very very late date for the species. The black to the chin, coupled with the crown and back with too extensive black to be anything but a male, but there was too much dark green for it to be anything but a hatch year bird. Earlier in the a.m. a few migrants went by: an Orchard Oriole, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and a White-eyed Vireo.  I had to run to town so stopped at the park for a minute and saw a Spotted Sandpiper, a small FOS flock of 15 Blue-winged Teal, and one immature Tree Swallow, quite scarce here.  A couple Purple Martins came by too, immatures or females.  They too have been gone for the most part for a couple weeks now. Aug. 26 ~ The adult female Rufous Hummingbird was here all day. One Julia's Skipper was outside.  The drought has created very poor conditions for the butterflies. Just before dark a flight of 60 Turkey Vulture settled in to roost on the west knoll of SR (in the second loop). I don't know how many were down already when I saw it, but a good number of TV's. Aug. 25 ~ At SR it's an ad. fem. Rufous Hummer, continuing, as does the juvenile Long-billed Thrasher.  Note their bill is much shorter than adults and can have some pale at the base, so other characters are best used for identification.  A migrant immature Painted Bunting stopped by for a seed fill-up. One ad. male Blue Grosbeak was around for a bit too. Aug. 24 ~ The adult female Selasphorus hummingbird was around, will try again to get an ID tomorrow.  The Long-billed Thrasher juvenile is still around at the seed, and one green bunting (imm. Painted) is out there, probably a migrant as I think the locals have been gone a few days or more now here. Aug. 23 ~ Heard only a Rufous type hummingbird late this evening. Went to Lost Maples for a hike in the heat, lost a couple pounds. There were two migrant birds we noted: one each of Olive-sided, and Great Crested Flycatcher.  The lack of water and flowers made for poor butterflying, but the dragonflies were pretty good. There was a Zone-taled Hawk over Morris' place on SR in the a.m.. Stunning was the news from John Stuart the park superintendent that a male VARIED BUNTING spent a half hour on the seed feeder at HQ on Aug. 20 for a very rare fall record.  He also said some folks reported an eagle diving in the pond and getting a fish. Of course this would be a "fish eagle", better known as Osprey, as it is too early for migrant eagles to be around.  For the average observer an Osprey with its 6' wingspan, is an eagle. Aug. 22 ~ The Calliope Hummingbird was still here in the a.m.. Down at UP I saw the two Tricolored Herons still there, must have missed them the other day....  There was also a continuing Great Egret, a Solitary Sandpiper, Green and Belted Kingfishers, and in the woods my FOS fall migrant Wilson's Warbler. Lots of mud from the quickly dwindling pond. Aug.21 ~ The male CALLIOPE was still here and I got a better pic this morning with some more light.  What a beatiful bird, for the smallest one in North America.  Now is the time to start listening outside in the first hour or so of light (and before if you're up and out) for migrants passing over.  Even when a front washes out here, it had power to the north, and birds take the free ride on the wave.  Ahead of, during, and right after the front can be good. This morning for instance at SR in the yard while trying to get better hummer pix I had a Dickcissel fly over calling, and then unbelieveably a LONG-BILLED CURLEW flew over calling on its way southbound!! That is my first fall record here.  Then over in a weedy brushy spot area there was a MOURNING WARBLER, an early FOS, though late August is a great time to see them.  There was also a calling Hutton's Vireo, and a singing Audubon's Oriole or two!  All that by 8 a.m.! Fall is on its way!  Now if it would just cool down a bit! adult male Calliope Hummingbird at Seco Ridge Aug 21, 2009 Aug. 20 ~ At SR the bird of the day was a male CALLIOPE Hummingbird at the feeders much of the afternoon.  It is the first male I have seen here in almost 6 years now, after almost 10 immature or female types.  I even got to hear it call a bit when I went out for a couple digiscope docu shots.  A very soft Selasphorus type chip note, not hard like Rufous at all, more like Broad-tailed but even softer.  You don't get to hear them much; they are often quite silent. One adult male Blue Grosbeak is still about the seed pile. Aug. 18 ~ Astounding was refinding the male KENTUCKY Warbler, still at UP.  I saw it from 6' at eye-level. What a beauty! It now stands at a 10 day record.  Amazing for a fall migrant! Probably a good food supply so fattening up for the flight here. The Tricolored Herons seem to be gone but there was a Solitary Sandpiper on the mudflats. Aug. 17 ~ At SR there was my first local Yellow Warbler of fall. Also a near-adult now first year male Summer Tanager bathed. A couple southbound Upland Sandpipers went over in the a.m. early. One green bunting remains. Aug. 15 ~ Uvalde supply run so a couple quick stops were made at the fish hatchery and Cook's Slough.  The hatchery had an FOS Peregrine Falcon, the Double-crested Cormorant still, 2 Yellow Warbler, lots of green buntings (imm. Painted), Dickcissel still, Bell's Vireo still singing, an adult Little Blue Heron that's been around a while.  In the sandpiper department it was poor due to too much water in the ponds.  They've made a nice new pond at the NW corner of the property, but it will take a while for it to have food in the mud for the sandpipers.  There was one Solitary, one Upland and 2 Least Sandpiper.  Over at Cook's Slough where there is virtually never any good shorebird habitat there was one Solitary Sandpiper.  The Little Blue Heron had moved over there, and there were more singing Bell's Vireo, Couch's Kingbird, and Kathy found a Least Grebe on one of the ponds.  Rufous Hummer was still at SR in the a.m., but not in the p.m. when we got back. Aug. 14 ~ At UP there were TWO Tricolored Heron juveniles (ph.). Also some of the regulars: Green Kingfisher, Blue Jay, Black Phoebe, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, and White-eyed Vireo.  At SR there was an adult female Rufous Hummingbird. Aug. 13 ~ Some migrant swallows passed over southbound in the p.m., some Barn, some not, that went un-ID'd. Aug. 12 ~ Amazing was getting hit by a little bit of rain in the p.m., totalling about 1/2".  Nice break from the heat! A Long-billed Thrasher was in the yard, first in a while locally. A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher passed by and one immature Painted Bunting remains. Aug. 11 ~ New Chipping Sparrow just fledged out of the nest. Also some new Cardinal young just out a couple days around. Last week over near Austin there was a Green-breasted Mango, which is a fancy hummingbird, not a fruit, though it is from Mexico, for probably the furthest north in Texas and maybe first one north of the lower Rio Grande Valley.  And almost sorta means we could get one here.  Most are immatures that occur in the U.S..  It's a 5" hummer with a curved bill and a cinnamon and black line on the underparts.  If you see something that sounds like that locally, call me (2349). Aug. 10 ~ Wind blew hard last night so I figured I'd take a chance while I had errands in town and stop by the park real quick and look for you know what. The Tricolored Heron juvenile was still present, and Well right where I spilled a bunch of stinky butterfly bait, where there were bugs, it flushed up onto a low branch, the male Kentucky Warbler!  Still here! I got a couple docu shots I hoped with the point and shoot Mavica at 10x, and then ripped off an eyecup from my binocs and shot a few through them.  It takes maybe 10 to get one still enough to see the bird that way, but I did.  I watched it forage for some time in the area of the tree with the spilled bait and bugs. Crown looked black enough to only be an adult male. Kentucky Warbler at Utopia Pk., fall adult male, present August 9-18.  (taken through binocs) Aug. 9 ~ First, early in the a.m. at SR I had a FOS adult female CALLIOPE Hummingbird at one of the feeders, 6' away. Then in the afternoon, Kathy and I checked most of the Sabinal River crossings along 187 up to Lost Maples and back. We always skip a bunch of them going to LM, so we just hit them all. Up by Vanderpool the wind was 25 MPH so looking for things was tough.  It's all hunkered down in that kind of wind.  I saw one Spot-winged Glider at a crossing north of Vanderpool, Powdered and Kiowa Dancer, a Greater Earless Lizard, but not much.  The habitat destruction that took place for the new crossings should have grown back in by now, but has not come back, probably due to the drought.  Lots of nice concrete though. The overall lack of water is astounding.  Someone send rain! About 4p.m. we went to UP so I could paint some magic stinky butterfly bait and watch a little to see if anything comes in.  First I flushed a juvenile TRICOLORED Heron at the pond edge, my first local record, and a new park bird. After finishing putting butterfly bait out I took a couple steps and flushed something in the undergrowth.  It made a different chip, and I saw greenish above and yellow below, so I thought geez that was a weird Yellowthroat. It popped up on a low branch and there was a male KENTUCKY WARBLER !!   There is probably one spring record, maybe two at most, for Uvalde County.  In fall it is unrecorded except as an extreme accidental in the west half of TX (from SAT west).  I backed out and went for Kathy, but we did not re-see it.  It was in there somewhere.  We had an Empress Leilia come into some of the butterfly bait, which is hard to come by, though present locally.  At least I know the bait works. Aug. 8 ~ An immature male Rufous is here, but no imm. female or Broad-tailed to be seen.  At sundown there was a great display of sun pillars again, especially from the dam with reflection on the pond.  There were 200 Wandering and 75 Spot-winged Glider dragonflies swarming at the dam just before dusk.  Then a couple dozen Chimney Swifts flew in for drinks at twilight, blazing past at arms length if you are out on the dam.  Fantastic! Then about 500 bats showed up over the pond.  Which was great except they relentlessly hit my fishing line. One was very bright reddish, a RED BAT, probably rarely seen here. Aug. 7 ~ Immature female Rufous still here in a.m., in p.m. FOS adult female BROAD-TAILED Hummingbird.  I estimate 10 each of Scott's and Hooded Orioles using the feeders. Aug. 6 ~ The imm. female Rufous Hummer continues. There was ONE (last?) male Painted Bunting, and about 5-6 greenies left. Two male Hooded and two male Scott's Orioles at once. Can hardldy count the females and immatures. Aug. 5 ~ Got it, an immature female Rufous Hummingbird is the un-ID'd Selasphorus of yesterday.  Glad it stuck. The juvenile Bronzed Cowbird continues. Aug. 4 ~ A Selasphorus hummingbird was about, Rufous or Allen's. August 3 ~ Two male Blue Grosbeak at once at seed pile. Back to the high pressure summer sub-tropical high and its hundred degree F. plus days.  I don't know how many orioles it takes to drink 32 oz. of sugar water a day, but that is the count here.  Probably 8-10 each of Scott's and Hooded, with occasional Audubon's visits.  Juvenile Brozned Cowbird at SR. August 2 ~ Did an afternoon hike at Lost Maples to see some dragonflies, and we were not disappointed.  We heard singing (not very well so surely a juvenile or hatch year, male) our first-ever in August, Golden-cheeked Warbler, also my latest record ever.  We also heard a Chuck-wills-widow calling its repeated "gowlp" call.  In the day at this time of year, surely a begging young.  Lots of the regular migratory breeders are done and gone however.  Did see Green Kingfisher, Black Phoebe, Canyon Wren, Louisiana Waterthrush, Red-eyed and White-eyed Vireo, although Yellow-throated Vireo was undetected and probably gone.  There was one Traill's type Flycatcher, and a Yellow-breasted Chat for migrant passerines. We saw a Dragonhunter (big dragonfly) catch and eat an Arizona Sister butterfly.  Also Neon and Comanche Skimmers were seen. Three Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (2 big dark morph females) were seen, and the first Monarch I've seen in a couple months. It was mint, unblemished fresh, so undoubtedly a local emergence, not a migrant.  Buttonbush is starting to go off so the next several weeks it should be good.  Kathy spotted another Clearwing Sphinx (moth), aka Hummingbird Hawkmoth, using it. At SR at 10 p.m. I heard the first Poor-will calling in a while. If we'd get some rain, they'd nest again.  About 1 male and 5-6 greenie Painted Buntings left. August 1 ~ AUGUST !?!?!   It's felt like August for over two months, and its finally here now!   Saw a couple migrant landbirds while checking the riverbed of the former Sabinal River in Bandera Co., north of town.  At Cypress Hollow, which is a puddle, FOS both Least and Traill's Flycatcher. Another Traill's was at the Corneilius crossing.  Traill's means Willow or Alder Flycatcher as the species pair was formerly known.  Great Blue Heron, Belted and Green Kingfisher at UP. July 31 ~ The male Rufous Hummer was still here in the a.m.. At UP in the afternoon was an imm. female RINGED KINGFISHER. Probably hill country bred. July 30 ~ A big MCS (line of storms) moved in at 1:40 and we got a much needed 3/4" of rain.  At 1: p.m. in front of it, I watched a SWALLOW-TAILED KITE fly over the hovel on SR. I just caught it in time to be able to grab my binocs and see it well enough to say that's what it was, but it was making a B-line south in front of the approaching system. It was likely the same bird Terry Hibbitts had Tuesday, 2 days ago over at Camp Wood.  Unbelieveable! Earlier in the day we had an adult male Rufous Hummingbird show up at the feeders, always a bright spot here.  Then I picked out two FOS immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. There are probably about 150 Black-chins, mostly immatures. As if all that wasn't enough of a day, at dark, 9 p.m., I heard my FOS Upland Sandpiper (2) going over southbound. July 29 ~ Today's award winning moment was a spectacular display of sun pillars to the west at twilight. July 28 ~ A White-eyed Vireo passed through the SR yard. Amazing was a Swallow-tailed Kite seen by Terry Hibbitts a mile from Camp Wood 25 miles or so west of us this day. July 27 ~ Incredible was finding at UP a female SWAMP DARNER dragonfly, a first Uvalde Co. record, since I got the pix to prove it. Black abdomen with green rings around it, and blue eyes.  WOW! 1 male Painted Bunting at the hovel, and a Hutton's Vireo. Swamp Darner, female July 26 ~ Nice to have no water for 6 hours today, makes for a great day always.  Do the green acres theme song, and you've got it here, alive and well.  Down at UP there were 6 Halloween Pennant, 2 LEAST SKIPPER, 5 Blue Jay, Barred Owl, and Kathy had an Indigo Bunting. July 25 ~ Uvalde so hit the hatchery of course.  Had one Tricolored Heron there, a very early FOS Double-crested Cormorant, a Neotropical Cormorant, the 3 Least Grebes still, a record early FOS Pied-billed Grebe Kathy spotted, 4 Moorhen, 6 Avocet, 2 Solitary Sandpiper, 1 FOS Spotted Sandpiper, and a thousand dragonflies.  Best was a blue one that got away but was surely a Great Blue Skimmer, and we saw a Thornbush Dasher. Then over at Cook's Slough there were 6 Tricolored Heron, another Solitary Sandpiper, 2 Neotropical Cormorant, and a Cassin's Sparrow was still singing.  Then at the city park on Hwy 90 there was an FOS Belted Kingfisher, 2 Kiskadee, and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. July 24 ~ Again at SR had a Golden-fronted Woodpecker... probably a wandering juvenile again too. July 23 ~ At 7 a.m. I had 5 Mallard-ish ducks circling SR from the porch.  Got them in my binocs.  They seemed to have distinct white bars fore and aft of the speculum, so I am reasonably sure they were Mexican Ducks, or Mexican Mallards, not Mottled Duck. Another Gnatcatcher passed through, as did a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 2 male Painted and 6-8 green (female or immature) Buntings. Audubon's, Scott's and Hooded Orioles, the later two by the bushel with all the juveniles present. July 22 ~ Only a couple male Painted Bunting left, and lots less greenies, perhaps 6 or so.  Another Blue-gray Gnatcatcher passed through the SR yard, as did some Bushtits.  An outflow boundry hit at 7 p.m. that dropped us from 102 to 82 but no rain. July 21 ~ Well I found the odes at UP, in the 95 deg. F heat of the afternoon at 4:p.m.; they are in the barely wet hole below the dam.  Lots of 'em.  In an hour I saw 20 species including 5 Halloween Pennants which are rare up here, 2 Red-tailed Pennant, scarce up here, and a pair of Leaftails that hooked up into wheel (copulate) landing right on a live-oak over my head.  Threadtail still present. July 20 ~ Audubon's, Hooded, and Scott's Orioles all in the yard at once, seemingly near daily now.  A male Cooper's Hawk buzzed the doves, from the pair that nests not too far away somewhere. July 19 ~ Heading down SR at 8 a.m. I got reaffirmation of yesterday's adult male Bullock's Oriole as it flew across the road in front of me.  We went to Lost Maples for a nice coolish walk up Can Creek and even had some drizzle. We saw 2 Golden-cheeked Warblers fighting (males) and heard another.  Fall migrant Painted Buntings were around the seed feeding stations, as were way too many squirrels, and even a deer eating the bird seed.  We saw a Zone-tailed Hawk catch a dragonfly and it was also diving into the tops of the trees like Kites do to flush Katydids. We saw Green Kingfisher, Scott's Oriole, Common Raven, Red-shouldered Hawk, and some of the rest of the regulars still seemed to be nesting (lots of territorial song): Black-and-white Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Acadian Flycatcher, Yellow-throated, Red-eyed, and White-eyed Vireo, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Canyon Wren. Again a Great Blue Heron was seen and I think they are nesting in one of the untravelled canyons somewhere not too far away It was too cool and wet for leps or odes for the most part but neat was a big male Spicebush Swallowtail right next to an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on blooming Buttonbush. Not much else blooming though.  Well, it was probably our last Golden-cheeks until next March!  One last peek.  You might get lucky for another week or so. There was a juvenile Vermilion Flycatcher at SR in the p.m., northbound.  Eerily quiet with no Chucks calling at dark. A juvenile Scrub-Jay did not understand why the Audubon's Oriole was on or wouldn't leave the peanut feeder, and tried several times to displace the Oriole.  The jay was chased off in no uncertain terms. July 18 ~ The Rufous Hummingbird must have tanked and left early as it was not around for the day and was here too late to have left last night.  Hummers are diurnal migrants. Zone-tailed Hawk on 1050 just west of the bridge again. A couple Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were at UP on the muddy river banks.  I heard only a Louisiana Waterthrush flush up on the island.   Second time I've heard one there but hate adding it to the park list as a heard only bird. And hate not having it on the list, having heard it, twice now. We didn't get any rain, but a good cell just missed by a couple miles, so we got to cheat the heat again with an outflow boundry right at peak heat time, which is good as it gets without getting rain.  :)   There was another bumblebee hawkmoth, at the library garden this time.  Too fast for photos. Butterfly activity still weak, but better than odes (dragonflies). I scanned the pond at the park for 10 minutes and could count the dragonflies on one hand.  The only good thing was finally an Orange-striped Threadtail (Protoneura cara), the first I've seen all year.  A Kiowa Dancer was at SR. Numbers of Pantala Gliders (dragonflies) are going over southbound. In the later afternoon I saw an oriole fly away from the porch, that I was sure I saw a big white wing patch on a black wing, in other words, an adult male Bullock's Oriole!  That makes for four species of orioles in the yard today!  The Bullock's is probably best considered a fall migrant. July 17 ~ There was a record early for me Rufous Hummingbird at the feeders this late afternoon to evening, an immature male, that showed up right after an outflow boundry and rain cell moved over from a system from the NW.  We had two little bits of a quarter inch each, so got about a half inch out of it! Interestingly my 5 previous fall Rufous Hummingbird arrival dates are two years on July 26, and two on July 27, once Aug. 2. Keeping dates has the value of teaching me for instance that by about July 26 or 27 I better be thinking Rufous Hummer if I haven't seen one yet, and that this one is 9 days earlier than what I've gotten so far here for fall arrivals.  :) There has been going on for well over a week now, a blowout (departure) of adult male Black-chinned Hummingbirds. They are now far outnumbered by immatures (mostly) and females. An adult Audubon's Oriole had TWO juveniles begging to it. The rain dropped the temps 30 degrees to 73 deg. F.! There were dozens of Spot-winged Gliders (dragonflies) Pantala hymenaea before and after the rain, all going south. A few Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens) and Red Saddlebags (Tramea onusta). July 16 ~ 8 adult male Painted Bunting counted simultaneously plus at least 12 greenies at same time.  Bushtits about. Did not hear Chuck-wills-widows calling at dark for the first time since early April.  An eerie silence it always is. July 15 ~ The male Blue Grosbeak has a couple begging young attending it.  3 species of Orioles still.  At the library butterfly garden there was a very large Black Swallowtail, with lots of yellow beyond the norm here, probably one of those "psuedoamericus" types.  another pure yellow Lyside too. At the musueum there was a bumblebee (Clearwing) hawkmoth of some sort on the lantana briefly. July 14 ~ Amazing was watching a juvenile Scrub-Jay that is only 30 days out of the nest, pounce on and kill a juvenile House Finch!  Besides the sub-adult Audubon's Oriole that has been around, there was an adult with a begging young. Same for Scott's and Hooded so becoming crowded out there. One of the male Painted Buntings has two just fledged begging young attending, so still new young being generated. There was a Duskywing (butterfly) I photo'd which was probably a Mournful. July 13 ~ Since I hardly see any at all, ever, in July, a surprise was an adult male and an immature female Golden-cheeked Warbler, 4' from me in a juniper while I was on the back porch.  Hutton's Vireo and Audubon's Oriole continue.  106 at the Rogers' weatherstation on SR. There were still 3 Chuck-wills-widow weakly calling at dusk. July 12 ~ At least 6 male Painted Bunting at once and probably twice as many greenies (females and immatures).   At UP there was another fall migrant, a male Black-and-white Warbler. There were a dozen Common Grackle juveniles along the river. Astounding is that due to lack of water in many parts of the Sabinal River a number of the Cypress trees are turning brown, as if it were October or November, and are dropping their leaves due to the drought.  Which means they won't be storing as much emergency extra energy as they would in the next few months, to make it through winter.  Droughts are tree killers. I keep forgetting to mention there is what appears to be some of that darn dreaded oak-wilt, the fungus, killing some ancient (500+ year old) live-oaks in the valley.  In particular at the former Montana Rocasa entrance near Clayton Grade there are some huge very old live-oaks that were alive and well last year, and now are dead.  There are some more live-oaks up by Vanderpool that seem to be dying from it. This stuff is a ecological disaster in the making. Unrelated to the oak fungus, a couple Sycamores along the river have died recently too.  Water your trees during droughts to keep them strong and more pest and disease resistant. Amongst the numbers of Lyside Sulphur butterflies around, if you look closely you can see the occasional pure yellow morph individual. July 11 ~ A Uvalde supply run netted an hour and change at the Uvalde National Fish Hatchery.  Fall migrant shorebirds were back as expected.  These birds have since April when they passed by going north, likely been to Canada, nested, and are now on their way south again.  There were just 3 species of migrant shorebirds there: Solitary Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, and Least Sandpiper, and just one of each, but it's a start. Also of interest there was a just fledged juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron with natal feathers still on the head, which means it hasn't flown very far from the nest, which proves Uvalde County nesting, since I got pix of the feathers that wear off in 20 miles.  :) We saw 3 Least Grebes, the first I know fo locally since the one one-day migrant we had in April.  Two of these were acting in a pair-like manner, one carrying vegetation, as if looking for a place to build a nest.  A good butterfly was on the Frogfruit, a Tropical Buckeye, only the second I've seen in the county. July 10 ~ Weird was a couple House Sparrow out back, probably from someones nearby un-maintained old Martin House.  Folks, please remove House Sparrow nests from your old Martin houses, if you want Martins.  And remember if you want Martins, they have to have a glide path leading from the box. If trees grow up and take away a glide path for leaving from the nest, the Martins will abandon the site.   There were two just fledged begging Rufous-crowned Sparrows around the yard all day. Also a Hutton's Vireo, and a Desert Checkered-Skipper, proper for the 106 deg.F. reading. Amazing was at 8:55 p.m., in the near dark, long after all the hummingbirds were gone from the feeders, one of the adult male Scott's Orioles came in.  I could barely see myself, it was so dark out. Latest I've ever seen it. July 9 ~ A cooler 109 at the Rogers's station today.  There was a begging just fledged Red-tailed Hawk screaming over SR for quite a while.  At least a dozen Painted Buntings are about, the yard, probably many more, that is just a high single moment count.  If they are changing at even a fraction of the rate of say hummingbirds, there are good numbers of them around now. July 8 ~ I should not have said anything about the heat yesterday, the Rogers' weather station read 110 at 4 p.m.! Remember you can scroll down the home/index page and check quickly. Their place is in a bit of a wind shadow from the southerly trade winds, so perhaps a couple degrees warmer than exposed to the breeze sites.  Closest to Laredo though per data. There was Hutton's Vireo outside again.  All the regulars otherwise.  At UP there were at least 3 pairs of Common Grackles each with 2-3 just fledged begging young. I see a NO SWIMMING sign is up, presumedly due to lack of circulation and turnover of the water.  It's a stagnant pond. July 7 ~ Back to 103 at Seco Ridge, and a gaggle of Painted Buntings.  An adult female Cardinal and an ad. male Blue Grosbeak had a full blown bug scuffle over a juicy seed pile.  They went at each other beaks open, flapping, trying to bite the other and not be bit.  I'd give 2 rounds of 3 to the male Blue Grosbeak.  Zone-tail. The sub-adult Audubon's Oriole coming by daily now. 3 Chuck-wills-widows calling still nightly.  But still seemingly like only one pair of Common Nighthawks stayed. July 6 ~ The cold front washed out over north Texas, and we did get a bit of rain in town and to the south, and at Thunder Creek maybe, but nothing on Seco Ridge. It was a cool day though, a welcome break from the heat, and a few times I actually did feel puffs of a northeast breeze.  Four male Painted Buntings at once in the yard, plus two SY males, green with salmon underparts, plus several adult females and a bunch of young.  They are the most common bird on the ground now, save White-winged Dove maybe.  The Chipping Sparrows have at least one just fledged streaky youngster out of the nest now.  The Mockingbird again used wing flash behavior to flush (displace) birds from the bath so it could drink. July 5 ~ A chilly 107 at Seco Ridge today. Worked inside and watched out the windows. Heard Hutton's Vireo again, and Bushtit, plus the Audubon's Oriole is still around, besides the Hooded and Scott's.  Blue Grosbeak, lots of Painted Buntings, a couple/few hundred Black-chinned (only) Hummingbirds.  But NOW is the time when the chances for rare hummingbirds increase.  The White- eared we had a couple years ago was in July, as was the one Green Violet-ear I flushed off the porch. By the end of July we should see the first fall migrant Rufous Hummingbirds back, and last year, the first couple of immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were back too. July 4 ~ A couple Celotes (Streaky Skipper) were at the library garden, and a Rounded Metalmark (C. perditalis). Elsewhere, I finally saw my FOS Tawny Emperors (2) today. The frogfruit along upper Seco Ridge road is quite productive now, if you can stand the heat coming off the blacktop. More Common Buckeye than all of last year, finally. I think it hit 109 at Seco Ridge. Of course the Fourth of July firework show at Utopia Park was as over the top as ever.  Y'all really know how to whoop it up good!  :)    Almost an hour of whiz bang boom amazing fireworks.  It's a great show! Another new Scrub-Jay baby is out of the nest.  The first oldest one is getting blue on the head now (90 days). There are a few pair of Cliff and one pair of Cave Swallow nesting under the 1050 bridge.  Most left early in the season when the river dried up. July 3 ~ Saw the Roadrunner take a Pipevine Swallowtail. Wished I could follow him to see if he gets indegestion. The swallowtail is supposed to be distasteful.  The Roadrunner went for a drink to wash it down, but seemed fine. July 1 ~ JULY !?!?!? We're half way through the year! The highlight of the day was at the butterfly garden when I flushed a DINGY PURPLEWING (Eunica monima) butterfly, my first one here ever.  There is an old Concan record so it is on the Uvalde Co. list, but quite a rarity. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of it though. But a good sight record it is.  In flight it appears all dark with some white spots in the apex of the forewing above. Figures it flushed out of the shady cool spot there too. I used to see them in the old days when we watched down in the lower Rio Grande valley.  Rare at the library too since they don't nectar, was only my 3rd Arizona Sister there. Also down in town there were Couch's Kingbirds harrassing a Common Raven in a manner that makes me think they are nesting somewhere just north of the museum.  There were adult Blue Jays were gray-backed fledglings helping mob the Raven. Two Whirlabout (skippers) at the Museum lantana were the first of the year for me here. The afternoon was slightly outflow boundry cooled, but we got no rain, just barely missing it again. Late in the p.m. I looked out the window and saw all at once, males of Scott's Oriole, Blue Grosbeak, and Painted Bunting.  Geez, it sure is purdy out there! In June I saw a total of 58 species of butterflies locally. A couple more were seen in the flatlands at Uvalde, that were not seen up here in the sorta highlands.  The drought continues, we are feet behind in rain.  It has been no pleasure for the second June in a row to be 10 degrees over normal, in the mid 100's to 110, instead of the normal 95. June 30 ~ An amazingly cool day, 75-80 deg. F., from outflow boundries that gave us no rain, but a welcome break from the over 100 deg. daily scorching.  We had 3 adult male Painted Bunting at once.  There is one salmon underparted with lime green upperparts SY (second Year) male, a couple females, at least 3 juveniles.  The juveniles buzz a bit, and it seems like adults never do, at least here on the breeding grounds.  The Painted bzzzzz is wetter and more slurred than the dry crisper bzzzzz of Indigo or Lazuli.  The Painted's bk metallic note is also a wetter kiss, much less of a metallic tone, more like an Audubon's Warbler, tchwip, compared to the dry metallic quality of the Indigo and Lazuli beek or bik note. June 29 ~ WOW one of the cells from an outflow boundry hit Seco Ridge and we got between a quarter and third inch of rain! Washed the leaves off anyway, and sure cooled us down! Water is not going over the dam if you haven't looked. It's bad out there.  We need major rain in a bad way. A White-eyed Vireo and the Audubon's Oriole were around at SR. I watched a Cicada Killer (huge hornet) chase a hummingbird for a while.  Made me wonder if they ever take them. June 28 ~ Lost Maples for a quick couple hour walk up the Maples Trail for something different.  It is amazing how low the headwaters of the Sabinal River are there! Lowest I've seen it I think.  That main fork always has Greater Earless Lizard of which we got to see a nice male. The Buttonbush is blooming and the Wooly Ironweed is just starting.  There was a black form (females only) Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, twice the size of the Pipevines. An odd Amblyscirtes Roadside-Skipper was seen.  For the first visit since mid-March NO Golden-cheeked Warblers were detected.  WOW bummer!  It's over.  14 weeks and that's all folks.  Until next year.  It was great while it lasted.  They are some special bird. There were begging young Black-and-white Warblers still. The Maples trail has no Louisiana Waterthrush if you wonder. We saw a White-eyed Vireo on a nest right next to the trail. Hope it makes it though the holiday weekend OK. When it is hot, birdsong shuts off like a switch at about 10 a.m., or 90 deg. F whichever comes first, so get there early when they are still offering clues as to their whereabouts. There were 3 Common Raven on the dumpster at the dump early. There were Common and Great-tailed Grackles in town and both appear to be nesting.  A Zone-tailed Hawk was over the library, being mobbed by martins.  That is always a good clue, as martins and swallows usually know the difference and do not mob vultures.  They do mob Zone-tailed Hawks though. SR got up to 110 deg. F. in the afternoon! GADZOOKS !! June 27 ~ Weird was another of those jagless Systasea, at the Library garden.  Also there was a FOS Soldier (ph.), and a Calephelis Metalmark, plus a singing male Orchard Oriole there was neat; it must have nested nearby.  At some Frogfruit on Seco Ridge road there was a White-striped Longtail, and Buckeye.  It was a toasty 105 on SR in the p.m.. June 26 ~ A Texas Powdered Skipper was good outback at SR. Third straight day over 100 here on SR.  Three species of orioles again, Audubon's, Hooded, and Scott's.  I'd say another round of immature Black-chinned Hummingbirds has blown out, the second of the year, the first round of young blew-out around mid-May. June 25 ~ Besides the Roadrunner which is singing again, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo was singing out back this a.m.. I got a good enough look at the all green juvenile oriole, and it is an Audubon's.  Unattended as usual by now. There was a single lone Chipping Sparrow out back. There were some Bushtits moving about, flocking up again. I heard a begging juvenile Common Nighthawk this evening. Finally something in the air....been three weeks almost. At least one pair stayed and got a young out.  Still a few Chucks-wills-widows are calling lots nightly close by. June 24 ~ Spectacular was a CLYTIE MINISTREAK butterfly (Ministrymon clytie) at the Utopia Library butterfly garden. It is my first good look at one here, but it disappeared before I could get a picture.  I've had a couple brief glimpses before.  Hindwing underneath looks like it has chunks of orange-red rock candy on it.  About 150 Lysides there, most of the rest the regulars but activity increasing, though diversity low, less than 20 species still. It was a blazing 105 or so at SR, with a 110 heat index. June 23 ~ Two juvenile Hooded Orioles are with the two adults, and two juvenile Scott's Orioles are with them.  The sub-adult Audubon's is seemingly alone. June 22 ~ The Audubon's Oriole bathed today after eating, and then even sang a few bars.  The most amazing thing today was the official opening of FALL MIGRATION with TWO of the most regular early southbound migrants being seen in the yard here.  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Black- and-white Warbler, both were moving south, and as usual are the first two migrants we see in June, done, and on their way to being gone. June 21 ~ A real surprise was the first Audubon's Oriole we've had at the feeders since March, 3 months ago. It was a sub-adult and seemed to know the peanut feeder. Of course Hooded and Scott's are daily pigs so a 3 Orio day. Also a juvenile oriole that was green was seen. At the butterfly garden there were 100+ Lysides, and species 94 for my list there, Common Streaky-Skipper, well described as looking like crinkled up dirty foil. June 20 ~ A Uvalde run but only one quick stop for nature nerding, at the hatchery.  A pair of Black- necked Stilts is interesting there.  Sure be neat if they bred! 7 Common Moorhen.  Real neat was a couple seen and one photographed MARL PENNANT dragonfly, probably a new and first Uvalde County record.  There were lots of Bank Swallows, among which I saw a swallow I'd give $20 for another 15 seconds of look.  I'll just say it was mostly green above and snow white below, without a white face. June 19 ~ Richard Treece, the park police officer at Lost Maples SNA reported he saw a RINGED KINGFISHER today at Lost Maples up behind the ponds!  I bet it is the first park record!  They have been over at Big Springs Ranch over the divide for a few years now, and even are suspected nesting there.  But they are regular on the larger and more constant Frio River, and quite rare on the smaller and often not running lately Sabinal River.  There are prior Bandera Co. Records over at the city park in Bandera on the Medina River.  I have seen about 3 around Utopia in 6 years, one which wintered on the river here. GREAT find and THANK YOU for sharing your good news! June 18 ~ Just before dark we had a 15 minute rain of about .15 of an inch.  Washed the leaves off, mostly. At the butterfly garden there were 100 Lyside Sulphurs, and my finally way tardy, and worn, FOS White-striped Longtail. June 17 ~ An adult female Cooper's Hawk dove on the doves, but seemed to miss; must be nesting not too far away somewhere. Zone-tailed Hawk over SR.  Juvenile Field Sparrow out. Sure weird not to have Common Nighthawk booms nightly already. June 16 ~ Another juvenile Golden-cheeked Warbler out back of the hovel here on SR.  An AHY imm. male Painted Bunting is about, with lime green upperparts and salmon underparts, one of the prettiest plumaged birds in America. June 15 ~ At the Library butterfly garden there were a couple dozen Large Orange Sulphur, a Celia's Roadside- Skipper, an unidentified Amblyscirtes that was quite brassy gold dorsally.  Also 1 Theona, a FOS Eufala Skipper, 7 Lysides and 11 Queen, plus a Question Mark, scarce there. A Julia's Skipper was at SR. June 14 ~ We did Lost Maples before it got too hot out. We saw 4 seperate adult male Golden-cheeked Warbler feeding freshly fledged fledglings.  Didn't see an adult female though.  There was a Red Rock Skimmer dragonfly, which is scarce hereabouts, mostly in fall.  Butterflies included FOS Clouded Skipper, and a Southern Broken-Dash. There were 3 singing male Yellow-throated Warblers still. In town there were Common and Great-taled Grackles, both nesting in town.  At SR late there was a Common Streaky Skipper (Celotes nessus). June 13 ~ Roadrunner hitting the bath for drinks in the heat of the day these hot days.  There was a FOS Strymon istapa (Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak) butterfly out back, plus a Northern Cloudywing.  Small numbers of Snouts and Lyside Sulphurs daily now.  I found a Brown Recluse spider in the casita here today, ID verified by a top nationally known arachnid expert from my poor photos.  I understand they can be common in TX. Another 105 deg.F day. June 12 ~ About 4:30 it was 104.7 up here on SR!  Brutal. As if the drought isn't bad enough, we sure don't need 10 degrees above normal on top of it.  River is barely running.  There was, appropriate in the heat, a Desert Checkered-Skipper in the yard. June 11 ~ GADZOOKS it was 102.7 at the Rogers weather station with a 112 heat index when I looked in the afternoon. The two male Painted Buntings that have adjacent territories sure are fighting alot when they see each other here. A few Large Orange Sulphur are starting to show up, as usual mostly pale morph females first. June 10 ~ A juvenile Golden-cheeked Warbler was in the yard. Always a treat. It or another an hour later too.  Once it briefly landed on the powerline, which they are generally loathe to do.  The nearby male Summer Tanager stopped in for a bath. June 9 ~ Newly fledged Painted Bunting.  A juvenile Vermilion Flycatcher passed by SR too. June 8 ~ A couple newly fledged Scrub-Jays in the yard begging.  It's getting noisy out there. June 7 ~ The alpha male Scott's Oriole and Painted Bunting are both noticeable duller than when they show up to breed. All that work taking its toll in wear, and of course by now they don't need their best suit anymore anyway. June 6 ~ Saw a Gray Fox take a juvenile House Finch near the bath.  Finch must have not been well. Eastern Screech-Owl calling. June 5 ~ Odd was an adult Monarch, haven't had one in a while. I haven't heard Common Nighthawk booms in a couple days and wonder if some may have abandoned their nesting attempts due to lack of prey, which is mostly nocturnal moths. June 4 ~ First fledgling Lark Sparrows out, and boy are they loud beggars.  Nysa Roadside-Skippers still around yard. June 3 ~ I saw the first Common Buckeye butterfly I've seen locally this year, here at SR.  Scarce in drought times. June 2 ~ A fairly unpredicted MCS (mesoscale convective system - a big ol line of storms) blew up on an outflow boundry that came from Mexico at 10 p.m..  We were getting lightning before it showed on radar!  In less than an hour we got nearly 2" of rain, with some pieces of frozen stuff.  We need the water so badly, that was the best thing all day. I will say there have been a good number of reports of GREEN VIOLET-EAR on Texbirds, with birds near Austin, Ingram, Fredricksburg, Sonora, and I think 6 so far, 3-4 around right now, some of which had to have passed by. Please holler (local# 2349) if you get one at your feeders! I saw one fly off from a porch feeder as I walked out the door, several years ago, and it never came back. I hear they are the skittish, nervous, shy types. JUNE 1 ~ JUNE !?!?!?!?!?!?! With migration all but over, it's time to keep track of nesting species.  So far I have seen the following species as just fledged young being fed by adults: Golden-cheeked and Yellow-throated Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Black-chinned Hummingbird, which are all early returning migratory species.  Then amongst residents Black-crested Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, W. Scrub-Jay, Green Kingfisher, Eastern Phoebe, and Ladder-backed Woodpecker to name a few off the top of my head. I'm sure some Eastern Bluebirds are out by now too. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Back to the daily grind, now, watching the breeding season. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bird News Archive XII June 1 - Dec. 31, 2009

Bird News Archive XI January 1 - May 31, 2009

Bird News Archive X July 1 - Dec. 31, 2008

Bird News Archive IX Jan. 1- June 30, '08

Bird News Archive VIII July - Dec. 31, '07

Bird News Archive VII Jan. 1 - June 30, '07

Bird News Archive VI July - Dec. 31, '06

Bird News Archive V Jan. - June 30, '06

Bird News Archive IV July - Dec. 31, '05

Bird News Archive III Jan. - June 30, '05

Bird News Archive II June - Dec. 31, '04

Bird News Archive I Winter '03-'04 Summary Notes and Mar. 31-May 30,'04

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